‘I don’t… I’m not… please just let me…’
‘Mr Cowley, we need to know how your son was injured.’
‘Please, officer, let me go to him. I have to know he’s okay.’
Kim looked to Travis, who was off the phone. He nodded.
‘We’ll meet you at the hospital, and we’ll talk there,’ she said.
He smiled gratefully and ran towards an old pickup van.
Kim strode towards her own car, ready to follow. She paused as she opened the driver’s door and glanced back to the side of the barn and the pool of blood from which Billy Cowley had just been removed.
Lying right next to the red stain was a brown-handled rifle.
Which she would swear hadn’t been there when they’d arrived.
EIGHTEEN
‘Stone, I’m not sure what you’re hoping to achieve,’ Travis said, dourly, as she parked the car outside the A & E department.
She had tried to attach herself to the ambulance, but without flashing lights and a siren on her Golf she’d had to let it go a couple of miles back.
‘It’s called investigating, Travis,’ she said. ‘I’ll explain it to you later.’
‘What are you hoping to gain?’ he insisted.
Okay, it looked like she was going to explain it now.
‘A man has just been shot on the same land where bones have been discovered,’ she said slowly, as she approached the entrance.
‘You’re getting distracted,’ he said, testily. ‘It’s probably unrelated to our old case. We should continue to focus…’
‘Are you kidding me?’ she asked, stopping short of the automatic doors. A man sporting a brand new plaster cast had to be pushed around them. She ignored the flash of irritation from the woman pushing him. ‘You don’t think it’s a bit coincidental? Your instinct isn’t burning a hole in your leather wallet?’
‘I think we should leave this family in peace and…’
‘Did you see that gun next to the barn when we first arrived?’ she asked, pointedly.
‘No, but…’
‘Neither did I,’ she said.
‘We were both distracted by the commotion that was going on at the time,’ he reasoned.
‘We’re both trained investigators and neither of us noticed it right there?’ she asked with wide eyes.
Travis shook his head. ‘You’re turning what might be a simple accident into a conspiracy to—’
‘Oh Travis, shut up,’ she snapped as she spied Mr Cowley standing at the reception desk. She headed towards him, leaving Travis to look for his gut reaction.
‘They won’t let me through,’ Mr Cowley raged when he saw her. ‘Said he needs to be assessed before I can see him.’
Kim glanced at the middle-aged receptionist behind the glass panel. Her face was colouring as a line of sick and injured continued to form behind them.
‘Come with me, Mr Cowley,’ she said, trying to edge him away.
He shook her off. ‘I want to see my son.’
Kim could understand, but the security officer who was peering at them from the edge of the reception was not going to let it happen.
‘They need to be able to do their job, Mr Cowley. Please step to the side.’
She successfully moved him a foot to the left, and the receptionist was now taking the details of the next person in the queue – a young man who was holding his right hand in the air wrapped up in a bloodstained tea towel.
Mr Cowley shot her an angry look.
‘Please, just come over here. They’ll let you know as soon as there’s any news.’
He hesitated but then allowed himself to be guided to a row of vacant chairs nailed to the periphery wall.
‘Thanks for your help,’ she growled at Travis, who appeared beside her.
‘Bloody hell, Stone. Make your mind up. One minute you don’t want my help and then…’
‘My colleague here will get you a cup of tea,’ she said, sitting beside Mr Cowley.
She didn’t look at Travis but sensed his bulk moving away from them.
‘Mr Cowley, can you tell me what happened to your son?’ she asked, trying to ignore the stench of body odour that emanated from him.
Jeff Cowley shook his head and ran a hand over his unshaven chin.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I heard a shot and ran outside. Billy was on the ground, by the barn. I ran over. There was blood everywhere.’ He patted the side of his neck.
‘He’d been shot in the neck?’ Kim asked, as Travis held a plastic cup towards the man. He shook his head at Travis and nodded towards her. ‘And his shotgun was lying beside him.’
‘Was he conscious?’ Kim asked. Had he been able to say anything? she wondered.
‘Stone, we need to step away and let…’
Kim followed his gaze to the door. The West Mercia squad car had finally caught up with them.
‘Back them off for a minute,’ Kim said. Travis was eager to hand this off as an unrelated incident. She was not so sure. Coincidences unnerved her. And the timeliness of a shooting incident on the property where bones had been discovered the previous day was setting off her senses like a street full of house alarms after a power surge.
‘Did your son manage to say anything at all?’ Kim pushed. She needed to know if this was some kind of accident.
‘His eyes were closed,’ Cowley said, swallowing deeply.
‘Stone,’ Travis said again.
Kim shot him a warning glance. The two black clad officers were fidgeting by the door. Illnesses, injuries were momentarily forgotten as every gaze in the waiting room was on them.
‘Mr Cowley, you do understand that we need to search your property?’
He looked confused. His mind only on the life of his son.
‘Not because of the shooting,’ she clarified. ‘But because of the discovery by the woods. Do we have your permission?’ she asked.
He nodded absently, as a woman charged through the waiting officers and headed straight towards them.
Kim assessed her quickly. She was five two in heels with a petite frame. She wore a navy trouser suit with a plain white shirt. The curtains of an auburn bob were separated by a blunt fringe.
‘What happened?’ she asked, ignoring both Kim and Travis.
‘It’s Billy. He was shot… I don’t know what…’
‘And you are?’ the woman asked, turning to Kim and then looking at Travis.
‘The officers investigating the discovery of human bones on Mr Cowley’s property,’ Kim answered shortly.
Kim turned back to the man with his head in his hands but had no chance to speak before the woman stepped closer.
‘What have you told them?’ she barked.
Mr Cowley looked dazed. ‘They want to look… search the property,’ he said, looking towards the entrance to the treatment rooms.
‘Mr Cowley has given us permission,’ Kim clarified.
‘Has he?’ the woman said, through a tightening jaw. ‘Well, my name is Fiona Cowley; Mr Cowley’s daughter. It’s my name on the lease and that permission has just been revoked.’
She looked towards Travis whose expression remained impassive. Surely that instinct had to have kicked in now.